Dine Out: Candela Lounge

The Man and I confess that we’ve always been huge fans of Alloy restaurant and its owners, Uri Heilik and chef Rogelio Herrera. In fact, Herrera is one of Calgary’s most talented chefs, and we have followed him everywhere. So, it was only natural that we followed him to Candela, his new place on Fourth Street S.W. Besides our cravings for Herrera’s food, our favourite barkeep, Travis, ex-of JAROblue, is there, so switching from our fave hangout, JAROblue (now closed), to Candela was a dead cert. How can you go wrong when both the food and drinks are fun, adventurous, inventive and exciting?

Candela’s bar dominates the spacious room. The bar seats are exceptionally comfortable, as is the table seating. It is, after all, a lounge, and it invites you to lounge comfortably. We chose a table rather than our usual bar perch, because our friend Amo was joining us. With all the good eating facing us, we figured we needed a third mouth to help out. Oh, brother, turned out we could have used a fourth mouth, we ordered so much food—11 dishes—and ate them all. It was not a hardship.

We started with a bowl of warm beets in a balsamic glaze, served with toasted pine nuts and a sprinkling of arugula ($7). Mmmmm, warm beets. We followed that with crisp calamari you won’t find anywhere else, dolloped with creamy coconut, a touch of ancho chili and a sprinkle of lime salt—all at once tart, salty and sweet, creamy and crispy ($9). Scallop ceviche is “like a chunky gazpacho,” The Man said. Amen. Slices of scallop tossed with tomato, tomatillo, avocado and a kick of jalapeno heat ($14).

Next: three mini-shrimp tacos on soft corn tortillas—warm, plump shrimp topped with tingly pico de gallo, black beans and lime crèma ($10). Though The Man is a bit of a wuss about heat, Amo and I love it, and we really like that there’s some tongue-tingle to many of Candela’s dishes.

Slices of flank steak are cooked medium rare to rare, topped with chimichurri “relish,” a side of “fancy” mayo (tarted up a bit), and house-made chips, both spicy and mild ($11). One of The Man’s fave dishes is the shredded short rib spiced with red curry, topped with yogurt and then piled on warm naan ($13). Small, grilled Japanese eggplant “canoes” are rich with ricotta and honey, and a sprinkle of pistachios ($9).

And just because Amo wanted it, we ordered the queso fundido, a creamy, cheesy concoction studded with tingly chorizo and earthy roasted poblanos, served with a side of house-made tortillas to scoop ($9).

Then, after all this, three desserts. Yikes! Buñuelos (Tim Bits with class), all cinnamon sugary, that we slid through rich dulce de leche ($7); a crèma Catalana, a seduction of orange-spiked cream topped with the perfect crunch of well-brûléed brûlée ($7); and, finally, a poached pear topped with Gorgonzola gelato and the crunch of candied walnuts ($7). Could hit the Gorgonzola harder, we thought.

Bottom line: if, like us, you love food that offers adventures for your palate, that just sparkles with flavour and texture, Candela is the place for you. We guarantee it.

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